Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operational feeling reproduction device, which is a simulation device for experiencing the actual operational feeling, and with which experiments, training, and the like can be carried out by reproducing a simulation of the operational feeling, without using the real object.
Background Information
A simulation device (operational feeling reproduction device) is used to transmit the tactile feeling and operational feeling felt by a person to a person who has never experienced those feelings before, and to develop a real sense by learning these feelings. For example, in the field of surgery, intravascular treatment is performed by using a medical catheter to send an intravascular dilation stent/balloon or an occlusion coil, and an operational feeling reproduction device is used in order to develop an operational feeling of this catheter.
As shown in FIG. 5, this operational feeling reproduction device has an operation component 100 that is operated by the user, an actuator 101 that generates a haptic drive force, a drive shaft 102 that links the operation component 100 and the actuator 101, and a controller 103 that comprehensively controls these, and is configured so that an image of the state when a catheter has actually been inserted into a human body, the operation situation, or the like is displayed on a monitor 104 from the controller 103. Then, the device is controlled so that the haptic drive force (tactile feeling) that would be experienced by a skilled physician is generated by the actuator 101 according to the amount of displacement inputted when the user operates the operation component 100, and the haptic drive force corresponding to the operation of the operation component 100 is transmitted to the operation component 100 through the drive shaft 102.
More specifically, a servomotor 105 is used for the actuator 101, for example, and when the user operates the operation component 100 while looking at the monitor 104, the amount of displacement of the drive shaft 102 is sensed by an encoder 106. A drive force corresponding to this displacement amount is then outputted from the servomotor 105. That is, the drive force of the servomotor 105 controlled by the controller 103 is transmitted through an intermediate member 107 to the drive shaft 102, and the user can obtain a tactile feeling that reflects the operation of the operation component 100 through the drive shaft 102. This makes it possible for physicians with no real surgical experience to experience light and delicate tactile feelings, such as how it feels when a catheter hits the wall of a blood vessel, or how it feels to form a balloon in a blood vessel, without actually practicing on a human body (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-42118, for example).